Mahogany panels ruined by contractor? Looking for new panels.

Hi. Yesterday something horrible happened to our living room wall. The guy working on the doorway leading into the side family room decided to "make the wall better" and "fill in the gaps". Before I knew what was happening, he had already filled all the seams between the panels and slapped a bunch of patching stuff on all the holes. He assured me it would look better after he sanded everything, and when I came back in he had stained said patched portions with a very dark stain. He came back today to sand down the dark stain, then slapped a different stain on. I now have splotchy striped walls and a heavy heart. Is this irreparable?

He says he will come back in 1 week to sand again, but I have no faith anything good will come of this. I'm looking for advice, but also, looking to replace the panels altogether if I can find original replacements. Any pointers or possible leads on acquiring new panels would be wonderful. I think they are 9'2" walls (seems like an odd height so I will measure again when I get a chance).tpe3e

Southern Lumber in San Jose carries luan panels that are a good match for the originals. They're unstained. They seem to get them from a couple of different sources so some are more on the red side, some on the yellow side. Make sure you pick ones that match. Do a search here and you should find some old posts with formulas for matching the color to the old panels.

On the bright side, they're pretty cheap. It's been a few years since I've bought any, but I seem to remember them being something like $25.

Thank you for that info! I am wondering, will replacing the panels now make the house considered not original? It's very frustrating because we purchased the house from the family who had owned it since 1958 (built 1955). I want to make sure I do the best thing to preserve this well maintained home. I also want to know how angry I should be at the contractor. I mean, I'm pretty darned horrified, but want to know if I'm overreacting.

Can you update us on how things worked out? Did you find a solution you can live with or are you still looking for one? If so, can you post the actual dimensions?

It can be tricky replacing a single panel on a wall. In my experience, the new luan panels are a slightly different thickness than the old which makes connecting into corner quarter-rounds tricky. Also, there were several different stain tints originally so even getting an original panel from someone else might require some extra work on that front.

Not sure where you live but we are remodeling our eichler and have mahogany panels as well as original cabinets for sale. Not sure where you live so may not be an option for you. I am in the SF Bay area. You can reach me at 510 589-0017.